


Colder than iron.

by drinkginandkerosene



Category: Marvel
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Drabble, Gen, Implied Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-22
Updated: 2013-06-22
Packaged: 2017-12-15 19:15:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/853078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drinkginandkerosene/pseuds/drinkginandkerosene
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky's body has been found in the ice, and it would cost millions to unfreeze him safely with technology from Stark Industries.  It's up to Steve to try and convince Tony it's worth it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Colder than iron.

Another argument between Steve and Tony wasn’t particulary anything new.

Steve getting upset was.

The tell-tale signs were all there, his breath hitching in desperate little spurts, his fists clenched at his sides, a flush covering his face like a veil. And as usual, Tony wouldn’t stop pushing. 

The subject of the ‘debate’? Well, recently another soldier had been found, frozen and apparently lifeless in ice. Nothing so very remarkable about that. He could be unfrozen, with the use of some very high-tech and very expensive equipment, and possibly even be unfrozen alive. It was a simple matter of weighing up expense against possible outcomes. Most people weren’t in favour since he was entirely unspecial. Steve wasn’t. Not when he knew the man in the ice. Not when he knew Bucky.

“He’ll be worth it.” He spun, leaning his back against the metal work top in the lab, facing the brown-haired man opposite who was cocking his head like he’d sighted a rare species of bird.

“Oh really? Because to me, he’s just a man. Useless to us. What can he do Steve?” 

“He’s a damn good man. One of the best.” Steve’s voice had begun to be coloured with anger, a rare emotion on the usually level-headed and calm individual. Tony had found a sore spot. And like with big red buttons, he just had to carry on pressing it, harder and harder until something happened. “He supported me, helped me, fought with me. We grew up together.”

Tony shrugged, like water from his back. He’d already researched a little on ol’ Bucky. Typical soldier, abeit a very good one. Steve’s best friend judging by the transcripts of some interviews with the guy from when after Steve became a capisicle. He wasn’t quite sure why that annoyed him so much. Because he didn’t have very many best friends? Certainly not any he would die for. The closest he had were the other Avengers, and they weren’t always close. He only really spoke to Bruce and Steve in a social capacity, and Steve and him always ended up at each others throats.

“He can’t add anything to the group, I mean, compared to me-“

Steve’s voice was low, and dangerous.

“You are nothing, nothing compared to him Stark. Nothing.” Tony stopped dead. That was harsh, even for Steve. The blonde man was staring away, toward the window. Tony didn’t really need reminding of how little of an actual hero he was. He knew. He had etched it into his bones, his skin, how his morals and integrity were little more than words he had once read. Those were his father’s department, not his. 

“Steve are you-” Shit. The guy was biting down on his lip, so hard idents could be seen. A thought suddenly struck Tony. Had Steve actually had any time to grieve? At all? He’d been unfrozen from one war and thrown straight into another, one he wasn’t truly ready for. Had he been treated for PTSD? For cultu re-shock? For fucking anything? Did SHEILD ever actually think of their soldiers in terms of people or did they just count them as units? Tony took the few steps to the taller man, pulling him down and into his arms, hands rubbing soothing circles into the other’s back, arc reactor to heart.

“I just… I really fucking miss him Tony.”

“I know Steve, I know. Let’s get him out of that ice huh?”


End file.
